Posts Tagged ‘university’

Maybe quitting university and going to work full-time for the rest of my life, without any significant education, wouldn’t be so bad. At least it would save me from having to write an essay on whether “Horrors-among-the-hollyhocks and a sanitized sense of evil” is an agreeable statement about Agatha Christie’s Poirot-novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Hollyhocks are, by the way, a kind of flower, brought to Europe from Asia in the 16th century.

How would life as a proletarian work out for me?

I did have to quit one of my previous jobs in a nursing home due to my arms; I have recurring carpal tunnel syndrome in both arms. So working in the health-care-system is basically out of the question. I have recently started working as a waitress at a restaurant, and a bartender at a bar. Both of which I like, but it’s basically only night-time jobs, and that doesn’t work out well with my plans of having a family with 16 kids and a couple of canines. Also: Both of these jobs involve a lot of carrying, pouring and other activities to make my arms hurt.

The biggest problem is this: I know what I want. I want to teach. And that can’t be done without studying. And so I’m stuck writing about the horrors among the hollyhocks, and other terrible tales.

This was brought to you, once again, by the queen of procratination.

(Upon trying to add the tag “University” the bar suggested unicorn. This made me happy, so I kept it.)

Why is this such a good time? Maybe because I am currently reading up on school politics for a debate tomorrow. Or maybe because I just chose my major last week. Or maybe both?

When I went to high-school I didn’t have the best of times. My first three years of it I was living in Belgium with my family, and I had some subjects in the norwegian school and some in the american school. I didn’t want to be in Belgium, and the people in Belgium didn’t seem much pleased to have me there either. It was hard, and I didn’t feel like I fitted in. I wasn’t the sweet and cute cheerleader-type of girl, and I wasn’t quite as outspoken as I am now.

I was good in school, but I didn’t want to be there. And the teachers didn’t make it any easier. I wanted a teacher who understood that everything wasn’t all right, but no-one seemed to notice. I went to quite drastic meassures to let it show, and I suffered from periods of depressions.

The third year in Belgium, while in 9th grade, I found somewhere to belong. People who I could concider friends. Things seemed better, but I was still fucked up. I didn’t want to be in class, or in the classroom at all. I did good in classes, but getting up in the morning was hard.

The first couple of years back in Norway were okey. I always did good in school, and I made some friends. But the last year of High School was bad again. I had gone through a lot, I was tired and felt alienated from everything. I didn’t want to go to class. I didn’t want to do anything. I wanted to sleep. I had friends, but I felt alone. I did good in school, and I had my plans and my goals, but I had a teacher who saw that I was struggling with even showing up enough to get my diploma.

This teacher is the reason I didn’t quit. He asked to talk to me, and I told him that I wanted to quit and take a year of, but I knew my parents wouldn’t like it. And he knew that the risk of me never returning to school was big. He helped me through it. He had an open door if I needed to talk, he let me take classes off as long as I did the work. He talked to my other teachers, and thanks to him I got my diploma.

I want to become a teacher to change the way school works. I want to become a teacher to help those who aren’t sure if they’ll make it. I want to become a teacher who isn’t afraid of asking a student what’s wrong, and how I can help.

The school-system is fucked up when teachers see students missing classes and not getting their diplomas without helping them.

The school-system is fucked up when students don’t want to go to school because of the way they’re treated by fellow students and teachers, and no-one does anything to fix it.

And the school-system is fucked up when students in trade-school have to learn Shakespeare, but can’t speak in english about their own profession.

A big problem in Norway is students who quit high-school, never to finish it. Good students who get tired, because the classes aren’t generated to meet their needs.

The teachers are supposed to be there for the students, not the other way around. And thanks to my one teacher who really understood that, I actually finished high-school and am now studying to be a teacher. If I can do that same effort for my students then I will concider my work a success.